Lots of healthcare organizations say their core values reflect a diverse and inclusive workplace but fall flat in implementation. A diverse workplace must be welcoming of all individuals, no matter their ethnicity, age, gender, or sexual orientation. More than a mission statement, everyone in your medical office plays an active role in its successful integration. In this post, we discuss what it takes to create a strong workplace culture of diversity and inclusion and why you must elevate its presence in your medical office.

Topics: Practice management, medical office manager topics, medical practice issues, diversity and inclusion

Pay careful attention to the latest reimbursement, compliance guidelines, and waivers as you integrate telehealth into patient care, experts warn. As the newness wears off, denials could start rolling in if you aren't watching the updates closely. 

Topics: Practice management, Practice cash flow, medical office compliance, medical practice issues, medical billing

Mix together long hours, hectic schedules, heavy caseloads, COVID-19 chaos, and office politics, and you get a toxic recipe for medical practice burnout. Don't ignore these signs! Medical office managers can reduce the effects of stress and burnout with strategies that support providers and staff. Learn best practices to avoid burnout, protect your practice, and increase patient satisfaction.

Topics: Practice management, time management, medical office manager topics, medical practice issues, medical office staff, administrative burdens

When demands at work leave you overwhelmed or exhausted, knowing where to turn for support is important before stress builds and spreads into other areas of your life. Relief starts with giving up some control, said Practice Transformation Coach Debbie Rozanski.

Topics: Practice management, medical office certification, Certified Medical Office Manager, medical practice issues, administrative burdens

Elizabeth Daley, MHA, CMIS, CMOM, CMCO, is Director of Client Success at Collect Rx, a 15-year-old company launched by former executives from third-party vendors who pioneered the out-of-network (OON) industry. The company works with 2,100 clients across the country and have built a proprietary database with thousands of claim resolutions at their fingertips to facilitate and expedite the negotiation process.

Topics: Practice cash flow, value proposition, carrier contract guidelines, medical practice issues, medical billing, financial management

Medical information is the number one prime target when it comes to cybersecurity hacks, FBI Computer Scientist Thomas Ervin at Practice Management Institute’s National Conference for Medical Office Professionals in December. A single click on a phishing email can turn a machine into a “slave,” as termed in the cybersecurity industry. Phishing email incidents are not new and have increased more than 200 percent. It has become so prevalent that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity Division has set up a website to report phishing emails. Ervin, FBI Special Agent Raymond Martinez, and Cybersecurity Expert Richard Avery delivered an eye-opening demonstration to show how easy it can be for your personal and work data to be compromised by a hacker. Cybercriminals target all types of organizations and these experts warned that healthcare entities need to be especially vigilant.

Topics: Practice management, medical office manager topics, medical office compliance, medical practice issues, medical fraud, medical identity theft, HIPAA compliance

Looking to start or advance your career in Medical Office Management? Earning a certification can be a huge bargaining chip when trying to snag a dream job or advance into a supervisory role with your current employer. In either case, you’ll want to weigh factors like the investment of time and money to know if a certification is right for you.

Topics: medical office manager topics, medical practice issues, financial management, HIPAA compliance

If you are managing a small- to medium-sized provider office, then you’re painfully familiar with the daily struggle to keep everything and everyone in line. These broad responsibilities probably include things like managing the patient-payer mix, staffing, provider schedules, patient relations, and accounting. It’s not easy; our hats are off to you!

Topics: medical office certification, medical office manager topics, medical practice issues, medical office staff

With rising costs in today’s medical practice, it’s becoming more important than ever to receive timely payments from patients. With the high costs associated with printing and mailing statements, and lingering late and missing patient payments, it’s enough to send the medical office budget into deficit. Though collecting insurance company payments is the lifeblood of all medical facilities, out-of-pocket patient expenses such as deductibles, copays, and coinsurance amounts can’t be dismissed. They can add up quickly in lost revenue if stricter collection procedures aren’t in place. 

Topics: Practice management, medical office manager topics, medical practice issues, medical office staff, financial management

Medical practice overhead is a growing concern for many practices that are looking to thrive and simultaneously maintain quality patient care. In today’s medical practice, overhead is directly related to patient volume, collections, and its general structure. These ongoing administrative and clinical expenses are necessary for the business to function but can have a negative impact on the practice’s revenue.

Topics: Practice management, medical office manager topics, medical practice issues, financial management

An excerpt from the new ebook: The Medical Office Manager's Guide to Time Management 

Key tips, best practices, insights—we've shared a number of ways to better manage your medical practice. But if you're looking for guidance in getting better at time management, all in one place, you'll want to download the latest ebook on The Medical Office Manager's Guide to Time Management. Not only does this guide provide you with educational and informative gems, it also shares how to help put all of this great knowledge into practice. 

Topics: Practice management, time management, medical office manager topics, medical practice issues

Sexual harassment can be a tremendous liability in the workplace if not addressed properly. In a medical office environment it can have disastrous effects on both employee retention and patient care. Addressing the issue and implementing protocol to handle claims is essential. Creating an environment where employees can work without being harassed is fundamental. Making employees feel comfortable and ensuring that they are aware that they can report an incident-free of retaliation are key roles for the medical office manager.

Topics: Practice management, medical office manager topics, medical practice issues, medical office staff, sexual harassment

In a busy medical practice, the risk of error runs high. This is a dangerous assertion when you consider that mistakes in a medical record can negatively impact a patient’s health. Mistakes made repeatedly in medical claims may flag your practice for an audit and, if overpayments are found, can result in huge fines and penalties from the government.

Topics: Practice management, PMI Certification, cmom certification, medical practice issues, medical fraud, medical billing, medicare

Every year nearly 2 million American workers are exposed to violence in the workplace. Astonishing as it sounds, experts say it’s just a fraction of the cases that take place; many incidents are never reported. The propensity for violence in the workplace has escalated in recent years, and notably in healthcare. From verbal abuse to physical violence, harassment, intimidation, and even homicide, healthcare and social service workers face threats to their safety at a more frequent rate than other professions.

Topics: Practice management, CMOM, medical office, medical office manager topics, medical practice issues, medical office staff, workplace violence, emergency preparedness

Portions of this article were originally published in BC Advantage Magazine March 5, 2019

A whopping 25 to 31 percent of total health care expenditures in the U.S. are administrative costs, according to a time-driven, activity-based costing study published last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)¹. These are huge margins for healthcare providers already squeezed by insurers and increasing costs of care. You may wonder if the grass is greener on the other side.

Topics: Practice management, CMOM, PMI Certification, Certified Medical Office Manager, medical office manager topics, medical practice issues, medical billing